Invincible Summer

by Hannah Moskowitz

Noah’s happier than I’ve seen him in months. So I’d be an awful brother to get in the way of that. It’s not like I have some relationship with Melinda. It was just a kiss. Am I going to ruin Noah’s happiness because of a kiss?

Across four sun-kissed, drama-drenched summers at his family’s beach house, Chase is falling in love, falling in lust, and trying to keep his life from falling apart. But some girls are addictive....

Not your typical beach read.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Summer, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult Contemporary

269 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 2011

About the author

Hannah Moskowitz wrote her first story, about a kitten named Lilly on the run from cat hunters, for a contest when she was seven years old. It was disqualified for violence. Her first book, BREAK, was on the ALA's 2010 list of Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, and in 2013, GONE, GONE, GONE received a Stonewall Honor. 2015's NOT OTHERWISE SPECIFIED was named the YA Bisexual Book of the Year. SICK KIDS IN LOVE was a Sydney Taylor Honoree, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and one of both Kirkus and Tablet Magazine's Best Books of the year. She lives in Maryland with several cats, none of whom are violent.

Reviews

[Hannah]

I wrote this. The girl on my cover wishes she had your body. You're awesome.

The playlist:

1) Turn Up the Sun--Oasis
2) Island In the Sun--Weezer
3) Just Like Heaven--Gatsby's American Dream
4) Bigger Than My Body--John Mayer
5) New Soul--Yael Naim
6) Across the Universe--Rufus Wainwright
7) The Boys of Summer--The Ataris
8) Slang--Def Leppard
9) City Hall--The Fray
10) The Worst Part--Motion City Soundtrack
11) Time Won't Let Me Go--The Bravery
12) Hello Hellicopter--Motion City Soundtrack
13) No One's Boy--Marcy Playground
14) You Can Do Better Than Me--Death Cab for Cutie
15) Sorry--Pushmonkey
16) Little Sparrow--David Cook
17) Long Division--Death Cab for Cutie
18) Not Just Sometimes But Always--Idlewild
19) Long Long Time--Guy Forsyth
29) Bixby Canyon Bridge--Death Cab for Cutie

[Lore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family drama.

What is it about family drama that speaks to us all so deeply? I know why it effects me. As an only child, peace and quiet was the norm for my household. I craved the hug of an older sister or the pranks of a younger brother. Craved anything. Any new and exciting family dynamic.

So I wonder - is drama essential in a large family? Is it inevitable? I have recently been privy to some of the drama of my Dad's large yet scattered family. While I yearn to know what it is like to feel the comradery of siblings, I don't wish for the intensity that comes along with the heated arguments.

Does drama just come with the territory? Is it all worth it?

Invincible Summer explores some of these questions. The massive cast is introduced quickly and all at once in the beginning, which leads to a rather difficult time of sorting everyone out. Once you advance in the story, it becomes much easier and you can even determine who's speaking without needing to be told. Every character is unique and well-defined.

The only rather annoying quirk was how often the dialogue involved quotes by the family's favorite author, Albert Camus. Clearly, the author's writing and his quotes are lovely, but I didn't find it quite believable that 15 to 18 year old boys would actually quote anyone that often.

Beautifully and simply told from the perspective of a young man named Chase over the course of several summers. Starting with the age of fifteen up until eighteen, he struggles through the birth of a new baby, the trials of having a deaf brother, and the complexities of girls. He deeply experiences doubts, regrets, and loss. But he also experiences love.

All this tension is heightened by the presense and, even more often, by the absense of his best friend and older brother, Noah. The story doesn't presume to be all that funny or highly suspenseful, but it can entrap you all the same.

The cover of this book is entirely misleading. It is no sunny romp on the beach. There is a love triangle that doesn't feel like a love triangle. There is grit, sand, and sea, but mostly there is sex, anger, and angst. It is emotional in a completely raw and realistic fashion.

This book is about how the love of a family is simple, yet endlessly complicated. The complicated part is figuring out why you love them. The simple part is that you do.

___________________________

Thanks to Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read this as an ARC!!

Content warning: Heavy language and some sexual content.

[Jillian -always aspiring- · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Actual Rating: 4.5 stars)

I turn around now, and see them laughing, but unlike Beethoven, I could already hear them. I always knew they were there. Behind me. Even this whole year, when I didn't see them, I always knew they were there.

The lack of surprise doesn't make it any less awesome. Because I get a different revelation now, better than Beethoven's. I'm in love. . .with my stupid, fallen-apart family.

Chase "Everboy" McGill lives for the summers he spends with his family in their summer home by the beach. Rather than feel fulfilled by the other dozens of weeks in the year, Chase defines himself and his family by summer because, to him, summer holds the most meaning, the most answers, the most everything. Summer is the constant even while his life changes and spins out of his control. Spread over four consequent summers in Chase's life, Invincible Summer embodies everything there is to love about summer -- and everything there is to mourn about it too.

Just as summer is a constant, Chase's family are his constants, his crutches, his rocks, his burdens. His parents try to hide their marital tension for the sake of upholding the summer goal of vacation and relaxation. His older brother Noah disappears as he pleases as a way to tear himself away from the weakness of caring too much about his family. Younger sister Claudia is forever trying to act older than her age, wearing bikinis and make-up and trying to flirt and seduce in equal measures, while younger brother Gideon lives his life without the aid of hearing.

Then there are the Hathaways, their summer neighbors, who are also constants in and of themselves: beautiful Melinda who quotes Albert Camus and eyes both Chase and Noah at different times; wily boy Shannon who hopes that the Hathaway and McGill clans will join through marriage someday; and sweet Bella who has a crush on Chase.

There are just so many things to love about this book. The characters. The prose. The story. The intensity and uncertainty of youth. The unpredictable quality of life itself. Even the Camus quotes, which could have been high-handed or (at worst) completely unnecessary, somehow just fit so well.

Chase's story isn't a fun one -- or, at least, it's not this ideal 'picture perfect summer' story. Pain, regret, resentment, and bitterness all play a part in this tale, but that's life. Life can be so many things just as this book is so many things.

While I can't say this book was perfect, it meant something to me. It resonated. It spoke. It voiced so many things so eloquently and powerfully.

Take it from me: Invincible Summer is worth the time to read. You will feel nostalgic for your own summers of fun and regret. You will close your eyes and recall a time when life was simpler but not necessarily better -- but your perspective was different. You were young, you were invincible, you were everything. Summer was everything and more.

Read this book. Remember those days. You may learn something from the reading and remembering.

[~Tina~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hannah Moskowtiz debut novel Break is still one of my most unforgettable reads, so I couldn't wait to see what her next book would bring. Just like I expected, Moskowitz doesn't hold back the punches!
Invincible Summer is bizarre and real and an absolutely enthralling read!

I don't even know even know where to start. I don't even know how to describe this book.
This book is about a family and running away and standing still, and Camus and sex and sisters and brothers and growing up and the fear the of growing up, and lost and regrets. It's about everything and nothing at the exact same time.

This is a story about a boy named Chase, who has a brother named Noah who likes to run but he wants him to stay. He has a brother named Gideon who's deaf and beautiful. He has a sister named Claudia who might as well be his best friend and another sister named Lucy who will always be Newbaby. And every summer the McGill family goes to there beach house the same time as the Hathaway family and together he shares the events that happens that summer and the next and the next and the next.
Till the one last summer where they just don't know if they can get past the summer before....

This book is just WoW!
I freaken love the way Hannah Moskowtiz writes! Only twenty years old and already she is such a such a terrific, talented and brilliant author. She did this to me in Break and she's done it to me all over again. This women writes the most painful, most intense, most gripping books that makes it so freaken unforgettable. Her writing is powerful and has this intensity to it that her characters and her plots seem to take a life of it's own.
This book shattered my heart into tiny crumbling pieces and I almost want to hate her for it. But instead, I'm in awe. She invokes such an emotional high in me and maybe it's just me, but I love and hate that her books have this kind of power.

Chase reminds me so much of Jonah from Break. He's selfless but wants to be selfish, he's self-sacrificing and he's completely overwhelmed but wouldn't have it any other way. I simply adore the way he looks after his brother and sisters and that's he just a kid who wants so dame much for and from his family.
All the characters are extremely well developed and everyone of them just as unforgettable. Especially Gideon!

The blurb is all wrong for this book, it's not a romance story. At all. It's about one particular family and what happens to them each summer. It's about sex and while it's not graphic it's still raw. But most of all it's about sisters and brothers and even though all family are messed up and confusing, in the end, they still have each other.

Filled with incredible heart, an achingly powerful plot and hands down the most unforgettable faces, this my friends was a brilliant read!

(Arc provided by Simon & Schuster Galley Grab)

[Maja (The Nocturnal Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Invincible Summer takes place over the course of several summers, during which the McGill family, not very put together in the first place, completely falls apart, only to reassemble itself entirely out of order, like a tile mosaic made out of pieces that don't quite fit together, in colors that don't quite match. When you think about it, the same happens to most families sooner or later, and therein lies the true strength of this book.


Invincible Summer is a quiet little book, a great example of postmodern literature heavily influenced by Camus’ existential prose. I took my time reading it, which is highly unusual for me. The McGill family was so easy to slip into, but then I’d suddenly feel the need to remove myself from their drama, run from them like the oldest brother Noah does all the time, and read something fun that has very little to do with real life.

This drama I mentioned isn’t the loud, obvious drama of soap operas. It is the quiet torture of being in a large family in which all the roles are reversed. Chase struggles with being closely connected to his large family, and yet somehow feeling isolated at the same time. His parents keep having more children, even though the oldest, Noah, is already eighteen years old and the youngest, Gideon, is deaf and requires a lot of attention, and despite the fact that they can’t seem to find common ground about anything at all. The family is full of paradoxes: they are extremely loud in everyday communication, but when they have a problem or a disagreement, they refuse to communicate. Two youngest (healthy) children, Chase and Claudia, are the most responsible ones, taking the role of parents to Gideon far too often. Noah, the oldest, feels very affectionate towards his family, but he can’t stand to spend much real time around them, so he often disappears without a trace for hours at a time.

Chase is going through his sexual awakening, suddenly aware of every girl around, especially his brother’s girlfriend Melinda. 12-year-old Claudia is drawing attention to herself by kissing waitresses in restaurants, Gideon is struggling with sign language and communicating in general, Noah is more restless than ever, and their parents are physically present, but completely absent in every way that counts.

From what I’ve read, most readers had issues with the overwhelming presence of Albert Camus in this book. He is everywhere, constantly quoted by characters and obsessed about, but he can also be found deep underneath the characters and the plot. His influence on Moskowitz herself and the structure of her novel is clearly discernible: if you think about it, the overly melancholic tone and strong sense of detachment are all reminiscent of Camus’ most famous work. Invincible Summer is very much an existentialist book. That part I didn’t mind, I’m a fan after all, but putting poor Albert in the mouths of teenage characters took away from their credibility and made me cringe several times. That is the only flaw I found, and one that is easily forgiven.

In Invincible Summer, Moskowitz did what she does best – she created characters that are impossible to forget and wrote a story that isn’t really a story at all – just a glimpse into a family’s existence: the disagreements, the tragedies, their love and connections. She’s not one for obvious drama, our Hannah, and yet, what could possibly be more terrifying than everyday life itself?
Reading this book, it is incredibly easy to forget that Hannah Moskowitz is ridiculously young. In her case, all that means is that she has many great books ahead of her. At 21 years of age, she is a force to be reckoned with.

[Cory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread on 2/11/13: It didn't hold the same charm on my second time around. Possibly because I hated the way Noah and Chase treated Melinda, and desperately wished for her to become a fully realized character. Ah well, there's only so much you can do with 50,000 words, and Moskowitz's writing is so non-minimalistic and navel-gazey, I don't think I would've stood this out for 70,000k. It's rather odd, I like Looking for Alaska more every time I read it, though I dislike The Perks of Being a Wallflower every time I re-read it unless I'm buzzed or high. Perhaps I should just stop re-read things, period.

Rating: 3.4 stars.



At first glance, Invincible Summer might seem like a shallow summer romance. In fact, I was expecting something akin to a second rate Sarah Dessen knock-off, perhaps Along for the Ride: Male POV. Imagine my surprise when I discover that this is, more or less, John Green: Summer Love with an added bonus, Family Conflict. Never again will I judge a book by it's cover--although I should have learned this lesson after reading Twilight.

Invincible Summer is complete with pretentious kids, an unattainable girl, and familial conflict; all of which make for an interesting read. If made into a movie, it would be a smart comedy--otherwise known as a comedy-drama--following in the footsteps of The Royal Tenenbaums, Juno, and Little Miss Sunshine.

Our narrator is Chase 'Everboy' McGill. His namesake comes from JM Barrie, author of Peter Pan. Apparently, his designated love interest deemed that he would stay young forever. See what I mean about pretentious kids?

We follow Chase over the course of four summers. In essence, this is a coming of age story. It's not up to par with Looking for Alaska or The Catcher in the Rye, but it explores themes neither were willing to discuss.

Chase is sensitive and naive. That's the extent of his personality. In league with his literary counterpart, Holden Caulfield, he wants to remain young and innocent for the rest of his life.

His Phoebe is Claudia; a girl who wants to be an adult without suffering any of the consequences. His Ally is Gideon; a cute, deaf little boy. His DB is Noah, although Noah isn't a phony.

In addition to his siblings, we're presented with another family. Melinda, our designated love interest, Shannon, the best-friend and Bella, the Jane.

The main problem with Invincible Summer is that it suffers from character soup. We're presented with more than five main characters, but they aren't allowed to progress past their base stereotypes. They remain two-dimensional throughout the entire story, which is detrimental to a character driven story. When you think Moskowitz is allowing one character the opportunity to development, another character interrupts and the story goes into an entirely different direction. However, Moskowitz has a talent for introducing characters. When Melinda and Noah were introduced, I immediately grasped their personalities.

Her prose isn't bad either. While Invincible Summer starts out slow, by the second chapter it really picks up. But the Camus quotes are entirely pretentious and unneeded. If accompanied by other poets, like TS Elliot or Dylan Thomas, I would have accepted that these kids were just that smart. As it stands, they are pretentious without the intelligence that goes with being pretentious. Yes, I like that word.

Moskowitz also has a way with capturing emotions. Unlike Blue Valentine, Invincible Summer is emotional roller-coaster where you understand not only the what, but the how.

Unfortunately, towards the end, I'm unable to sympathize with Chase because the build up to the climax is insufficient and predictable. If you know of JM Barrie's childhood, or if you've read The Catcher in the Rye, you'll understand what I mean.

In most coming of age stories, the parents are neglected to focus on other issues. Here, the parents are a major force, but they are poorly developed. However, much like bitchsquealer in Will Grayson, Will Grayson, I learned a new curse word.

Now, onto my favorite aspect of this novel: the destructive love triangle.

I've not discussed this topic previously, but pretend that I have. While Chase is the protagonist, Melinda is the main character. The main character forces the protagonist to change. Often, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is the main character. Who changes in Looking for Alaska? Who remains static? The novel is about Alaska, hence she is the main character. But the protagonist is Miles. The main character is often known as the Christ figure, but that's a discussion for another time.

Melinda is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl who is no-longer a dream girl. In fact, she's a nightmare. She's everything Chase wants, but can't have--until suddenly, she wants to have sex with him. She's like Louisa, from Y Tu Mama Tambien; an MPDG who's all grown up.

At first, I thought Melinda would evolve from this worn out stereotype, but sadly, this doesn't happen. We're given a taste of all the potential she has, but that dissipates after they have sex. Their whole relationship consists of sex, illegal sex at that. Melinda is six years older than Chase, but it doesn't seem like that. Until I was told, I guessed that she was only two or three years his elder.

Melinda sleeps with him because she knows that he would never leave her. For a while, I was getting predatory vibes from her, and they were enhanced from my knowledge of psychology. Delving into this would be a spoiler, so I'll leave it up to your imagination.

Also, we're given a love triangle, but none of the conflict that comes with one. Chase feels used, but this is never explored. Instead, we place the blame on Melinda. I think the explanation for her actions is a bit weak. If it was a big reveal, I would have felt differently. Instead, we're told up front and it's never discussed. Thankfully, Moscowitz doesn't allow a girl to come between the two brothers.

Don't get me wrong; I think Moscowitz is a pretty good writer. If fleshed out, this would have been a solid four star book. Sadly, the interesting conversations take up very little space and Chase's inner narration--which, by and large, is somewhat boring--causes an irregular pacing issue.

3.5 stars. And yes, I would definitely check out her other books.

Disclaimer: I received this book through Galley Grab. No outside sources influenced this review. In fact, I think Harper Teen blacklisted me after the bad reviews I wrote for them.

[oliviasbooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

In short: I kind of liked the hero, but the family, especially the parents (so many kids but almost zero interest in them, plus "Dad hates Noah", the eldest ...), was so very weird and displayed strange dynamics. In addition the sad undercurrent carried the later crashing tragedy with it almost from the beginning like a slowly built-up tsunami which caused me flipping the pages with very little enjoyment. I am a hope-or-spark-of-hope-focused kind of reader. I need a healthy dose of it even in the darkest story. "Invincible Summer" does not belong into the darkest corner, don't misunderstand, but it had me reading with a hollow feeling in my guts that I do not like at all.

[Steph Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOTE: Please do not hit the spoilers if you haven't read the book. It will completely ruin the ending for you!

Summer.

It's the season of innocence, fun, laughter, all the things it means to live. For Chase McGill, summer is his constant in his ever changing life. When everything is falling apart, he feels he can always count on summer to be there. Taking place over four summers at his family's beach house, Chase finds that even his summers can not go untouched by change. It is during those summers that he looses friendships, his innocence, and his ideals of a family.

I don't usually read a lot of contemporary novels. Most just don't seem to fascinate me like fantasy or paranormal does. Though, maybe this may have something to do with the fact that I have the attention span of a gnat. Any who, this book really spoke to me. I could entirely relate to Chase and what he was going through, mostly due to the fact that I myself have experienced it The tension between his parents, ultimately leading up to their divorce and the death of his young brother . I cried because the emotion was that raw for me.

The setting was entirely convincing. I could picture the beach, the boardwalk, shops, the sand, and the beach house. Hannah Moskowitz made me feel the summer.

The characters were also well written. By the time the novel was halfway done, I could easily tell who said what without being told. They were pretty realistic for the most part. However, there are two things that bothered me.
(1) Chase and Noah quoting Albert Cumas. One or two quotes here and there I could believe. But these teenagers were, at times, quoting paragraphs. Word for word. I just can't wrap my mind around the fact they would actually do that on summer vacation. I don't even remember attempting to use that part of my brain during summer break. But I just let that slide and went with it. But then Gideon, their deaf, younger brother asks Chase to read him some Cumas as a bedtime story. At age 8. At that point, I'm like, "C'mon!"
(2) At times Chase didn't feel like a male POV. Most notably when it came to the relationship with his older brother Noah. He seemed a bit clingy at times. However, it was refreshing to read a male POV.

Those two issues are relatively small and the book is still a really good read. I'll leave you with my favorite quote from the book that really spoke to me:

"When you're grieving, the times you're happy are so much more tragic than the times that you aren't. Because being happy feels fake and it feels temporary and it feels meaningless. And hating being happy is a shitty way to live."

More reviews and more at Cuddlebuggery Book Blog.

[Emily May · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is okay if you want 4 identical cheesy stories of summertime romance. Some people will love it undoubtedly but I got bored fairly quick.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is sharp, beautiful and almost painful in places. It is the perfect beach read, not that it is light and fluffy (it isn't), but it gels perfectly with the feeling of being on the beach in summer.

I'm not quite sure how to approach this review without it devolving into a squee marathon, so let's separate off elements of this book and talk about them, okay?

The setting was one of my favourite things about this novel. Take it from someone who lives on the coast: H. Moskowitz has got it. I could tell that it was based on a real place, and that made it even more palpable for me. I don't know how she did, but she perfectly captured the summery, sandy, salty feeling of the sea and everything around it. You hear that a lot, don't you? "Oh, this book was so real." Well, Moskowitz recaptured and renamed real. I could picture every scene, every element of every scene, and it broke my heart over and over. One of the reallest (is that even a word?) books I have ever read, and stunning for it.

I loved how this did not follow the typical dramatic structure. It fitted perfectly with what Noah said that the McGill family was noisy when there was no reason to be, and quiet when they should be talking. I loved that Hannah subverted the typical dramatic climaxes (...that word is so wrong given the topic of this book) over and over. Just when we were convinced that it was all going to turn into some huge screaming match (when Noah found out about Chase and Melinda, when Bella found out about Chase and Melinda, when Chase found Claudia kissing the waitress), it didn't. And that was the perfect pace for this quiet but heartbreaking beach book. However, it's quiet, not slow. There is an almost agonising underlying tension, but she doesn't bother with small plot questions. It's all about, will Gideon be okay? Will Noah run away forever one day? Will Claudia do something that she can't take back?

However, do not feel that this book is overly dark and gritty. It isn't. The humour is gorgeous. It contributed to some of my favourite scenes in the novel (there were many): when Chase and Gideon are running around looking for Claudia and Noah (and then later Claudia) into all those stores and when Noah and Chase were at the ASL office together. Speaking of the ASL office, this was another of my favourite things in IS (you're starting to see where this is going, aren't you?) - the way they approached Gideon's disability. Noah's attitude towards it, Chase's attitude towards it, Claudia's attitude towards it - all of it was so real, so genuine and I felt it. I loved the sign language, especially when it was Chase and Gideon, especially that night where Gideon woke up and Chase had to comfort him or when Chase was signing to Gideon when he was already dead.

But, chickens, we're moving on to the big one.

The family relationships.

I read Hannah's blog regularly, so I also read the entry in her playlist when she talked about how everyone seems to have a faint aversion to talking about the family relationships in IS. Because they are incestuous. And yes, they both are and aren't. It doesn't devolve into some horribly melodramatic stew like Forbidden. There's just a hint, and overarching feeling. But Hannah never overeggs it or underplays it: like the scene where Chase catches Claudia kissing the waitress, or the scene where Noah and Chase try to talk about Melinda, or when Claudia and Chase pretend to be the parents - she leaves us with the feeling and moves on. It's subtle, and it's there, and I loved it.

This is the crux of what I loved about Invincible Summer: the feeling that there were no rules. I'm basically giving the middle finger (respectfully, of course) to all the people who said "this is so unrealistic", "this is so unlike a male narrator", "do some siblings really relate to each other like that?" Well, no. Not all boys think like this; not all boys read philosophy, and very few boys (I should imagine) have slightly inappropriate relationships with both their brother and sister. But, guys, Invincible Summer is the perfect example of why we can't pigeonhole male narrators. Not all boys are aloof and irritated by their brothers and sisters. Because Chase is a boy, yes (wow, way to state the obvious there, Beth) but first and foremost, he's Chase. Hannah shows us why we have to judge boys as characters and not just as boys. There are no clichés in IS, there are no stereotypes. Claudia isn't the irritating younger sister; she's a fascinating and incredibly well developed girl whose promiscuity isn't some "cry for help." It's a manner of expression, yes, but there's no explanations.

There are no easy answers in IS. And I totally related to that. Some kids just act out, and it can't be explained by some Freudian excuse. Chase's relationship with Noah can't just be dismissed as "big brother worship": there's desperate love and perhaps niggles of hatred, and need and co-dependency and...gahhh. And it's not just the central brothers either. Since Gideon's birth set off Noah's downward spiral, you'd expect him to hate or be distant from him, woudn't you? No. Gideon and Noah's bond is one of the deepest and most heartbreaking I've ever read. Also, Hannah doesn't shy away from the slightly less palatable answers, which I loved. When Noah doesn't want Gideon to learn to communicate, is it for Gideon or is it for Noah? I was never sure, and I think the answer is "both." We've already talked about the slightly incestuous undertones between Claudia and Chase and Chase and Noah. In other YAs, there's always a sense of "siblings must be close but not so close that evertyone will look at them and think 'incest'", I've found in books, such as in Playing in Traffic unless incest is going to become the main plotline (see: Forbidden). That's not that I don't get that, but it waas a brilliant breath of fresh air to read a book where the characters weren't bonded by the rules and taboos of modern YA fiction, and were just them. I loved that thier parents drunk and swore but weren't bitchy and abusive. Maybe the parents weren't as well developed as the kids, but they were still 100% more developed than they are in most YA. Not everything they did was perfect, but there was no judgement.

Melinda. Melinda isn't an easy girl, and she's certainly not your run of the mill love interest, and a lot of the time I felt that she was damn unlikeable. But I loved that Hannah pretty much addressed Melinda's seduction of Chase as what it was: statutory rape. The words are never mentioned, but when Noah calls Melinda out on it, you can tell that that's what's happening. And I loved the lack of double standard here. Yes, it's still crappy and manipulative and damaging when it happens to a boy and the girl is hot. I also loved how Hannah tackled the revelation that she was a rape victim. Often in books, especially YA books, victims of rape get a free pass for many things - although this isn't rape, I'm looking at you, Thirteen Reasons Why. Yes, rape is a horrible crime. But it doesn't give you the right to do whatever the hell you want. I feared, when Melinda told Chase and Noah (and yaaaay, Hannah avoided the blubbery confession scene!), that they'd be falling over themselves with excuses and justification. They didn't. Yes, what happened to Melinda was horrible. But it doesn't give her the right to go around doing whatever she wants.

But, now, for a moment of criticism. I wasn't wholly comfortable with the big scary thing that happened to Gideon at the end of the penultimate summer. Now, I'm okay with horrible things happening to characters I love, because IS had already proved itself to be a subtler and quieter book than the one that this happened in. It felt too much like a deliberately shocking twist, which a book as well written and well paced as IS didn't need. It wasn't bad, per se, and definitely not enough to deduct a star, but I wasn't sure if it exactly worke in the context of the novel that it happened in. Although it excaberated the McGills' growing apart in an absolutely agonising way admittedly.

You think that IS is a book about two brothers falling for the same girl? It isn't. It's about two boys who use the same girl as a medium for growing up. I loved the lack of resolution in the Hathaway thread, because I was praying that Melinda and Noah wouldn't get together. I felt that, if they did, Melinda would still have a McGill boy in the palm of her hand.

Sorry that this is a less of a review and more of an essay -- take it as proof for the profound emotional impact that IS had on me.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incivible Summer is completely different from what I expected. When I look at the cover I think summertime fun, romance, a story told from a girl's perspective. But I couldn't be more wrong. Incivible Summer is a powerful and HEARTBREAKING story about family that really got to me.

It is told from Chase's point of view, the second eldest in a family of five children, over the period of four summers set at their beach house. Chase is an outstanding character. He is so well fleshed out. A character that you really feel for and just want to hug and never let go. He has so much weight and responsiblity on his shoulders for somebody of his age. Sometimes I felt that he was the Dad in the family.

The rest of Chase's family I have mixed feelings towards. Loved Claudia and Gideon. Noah would make me mad one minute and then I would love him the next minute. And Chase's parents annoyed me. I would love to rant on about them but I don't want to spoil the book. They are parents who need to be more responsible for their children and their own actions. But no matter how I feel towards the characters, they were all believeable and well written.

Invincible Summer plot deals with some compelling family issues head on. Moskowitz writing is raw and gritty. It gets under you skin and will cause an emotional reaction, whether it be tears or anger. Both for me.

There is one thing that bother me a little, the ending. I wanted better closure with their relationship with the Hathaways (their neighbours). But then I guess everything doesn't always get sorted out in real life.

Overall, Invincible Summer is a really good but intense read. I recommend it to fans of contemps who like their stories a little edgy and emotional.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished Invincible Summer a few days ago but have been sort of at a loss to explain how I feel about it while still remaining fair to the novel itself.

This book is a look at several summers in the life of two families who come to the beach every summer for a month or so at a time. It's told in a hazy, lazy sort of summery way from the point of view of one of the boys in a chaotic family. Everyone is slightly pretentious and quotes Camus a lot.

As a little bit of backstory, I was diagnosed with a mild sensorineural hearing loss when I was four years old. By now, at 25, it has progressed to a severe loss in one ear and a profound loss in the other. My path was quite different from the path taken by the family in this story in regards to their small deaf son; I attended a standard public school, can speak English without an accent, know a few signs, and most importantly, was never left out of my family.

I had a strange sort of emotional reaction to the way Gideon was treated in this book. He's basically like the family's trained monkey that knows a few signs but isn't really there, isn't an individual, except when it's needed to show growth from the other characters. Gideon's parents are not involved at all except to argue about who deserves tuition more, Gideon for a Deaf school or his flighty brother for college. They don't even take him to the random speech therapist they find on the beach - they make his brothers do it.

Putting it simply, the way this family acted about their deaf sibling/child was completely foreign to me. It felt completely unrealistic. If Gideon were truly born profoundly deaf, he would have received intervention services at the hospital after he failed his newborn test(s). His parents would have made the decision about ASL/cochlear implants years ago and wouldn't need a speech therapist to outline their options. Given how messed up his family is, it's possible they would have just not wanted to deal with it, but I couldn't really believe the way they actually did choose to handle it. After all, how was Gideon taught the rest of the year? Surely his teachers would want/force some input on his growth on the family, and surely he'd at least have an IEP set up or the equivalent... right?

Most of the time everyone seemed to basically ignore Gideon except when he was needed for emotional growth - especially at the end. Can you imagine this story told from his point of view? Isn't it scary? Being trapped with a group of people who don't speak your language and move their mouths in funny ways. He becomes their sacrifice.

Gideon is saved a little bit by the sympathy of his brother Chase, and they have some truly uniquely loving scenes together. I enjoyed their interactions a lot.

(For a very moving look at how deaf people growing up in hearing families with no language can feel, check out Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love, the true story of a boy who grows up interpreting for his deaf parents. They each tell their son the story of their childhood over the course of the book, and it is fascinating.)

I'm writing a lot about how unrealistic people's reactions to Gideon were, but most of it is just coming out of the hollow pit I feel in my stomach of how I would have felt if I were him, and it kind of freaks me out.

The story does get props from me for handling sex without shying away from it. It's slightly creepy sex as Caris points out in his review, but it's handled directly and without condescension to the characters.

[Areeba · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am SO torn over this one. Was it good? YES. Hell yes it was. But maybe just not my type of book... That said, you should TOTALLY give it a try. Because it's heartbreaking and powerful and (for the most part) so very realistic, and Moskowitz is an awwwwwwesome writer (as well as an awesome person, at least from what I can tell through her blog), and the whole sign-language stuff incorporated into the book was seriously a treat to read.

The only complaint I had was the enormous amounts of Camus poetry-quoting in the book. I'm not generally a poetry-loving person, and I don't really know any teens who actually quote poetry, and in such a verbatim way. But once again, maybe that's just me.

I also wish that perhaps the cover was a little more representative of how intense this book is. It IS about girls, yes, but SO MUCH more than that.

Can't wait to read more Moskowitz!

[Kay-c · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read some awesome contemporary book so far. And Yes, Invincible Summer is one of them!

I love everything about the book! I love Noah, Chase, Shannon, Bella, Claudia and even little Gideon!

This book is good at breaking peoples heart. And that goes also to its writer Hannah Moskowitz and now She’s on my list of favorite authors.

The book is about family.
Lose
Growing up
Running away
And Camus

Their family is not a perfect family but that’s what makes this book so easy to love and interesting. I love how they (chase and his siblings) takes care of each other and how they look for each other.

Moving on. The story is about Chase who is the protagonist of the story has four siblings namely: Noah, the eldest who always runs away, Claudia who seemed too mature for her age, the third son, Gideon who is deaf yet so adorable and lastly Lucy, the youngest. The McGill family always spends their summer at their beach house together with the Hathaway Family. Chase tells us everything that happened to his summer. The summer where he lost his virginity, his first crush and the unbreakable bond with his older brother and a great friendship with Shannon. And where that summer took all his childhood memories away. That accident that made him think that going back to the same place is too painful and unbearable. And where the happy memories fades away together with that incident that break the bonds truly apart.

The story is powerful and catchy. WOAH!
It shows no matter how messed up your life or even family can be. You have you brother, sister = siblings to run to. And when all of them are together. Nothing can break them apart.

I love how Ms. Hannah build up the characters, how they are made. The characters are perfect in their own freakin way. And I love chase. I love how he stands up as the eldest even though his not. I love how he takes care of his siblings. He’s just so dependable, responsible and sweet kid.

Over all. For all of you who thought that this book is about another boy and girl thingy. You got it all wrong, dude. Like I said above. It’s about brothers and sisters and Family. How they cope up with all the incidents that happened. How they stay strong together. And how siblings should be.

[Isamlq · Rating 5 out of 5]

3:07 AM
I just finished it.
My eyes are all puffy.
My nose is stuffed up.
Invincible Summer is a must read.

We witness Chase McGill grow up. He doesn't want to at first. And it seems, this is precisely his attraction for some. We read as he stands by while his baby sister grows (even if she does so, a little too quickly.) We read as he watches Noah, whom he idolizes continuously, run away. We witness his/their screwed up connection to their summer neighbors. We watch as his family falls apart then sort of comes back together. And on that last summer, something so... heartbreaking.

The cover is misleading. It’s a girl on a beach. At first, I thought, a fun summer read. This was off the mark. Yes, there are moments where I had to laugh at how familiar they were with Camus, at how they always had something from him to throw out. But overall, The Invincible Summer is not light, not fun… it’s intense, raw and emotional. But I made myself read on… even if I had to pause every now and then.

The author pulls no punches. The book isn’t just about one thing. There's so many things going on. It’s about a couple of things happening Chase, and to his family as he felt it (and I felt a lot as a consequence).

It’s about:
brothers,
parents,
girls,
mistakes -- a shitload of mistakes.
Then it’s about grief.
Finally, acceptance.

Bits of it made me uncomfortable, but she didn't hold back.
Bits of, no whole portions of it, made me cry. I couldn't stop crying.

INTENSE

eARC care of Simon & Schuster's galley grab program

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to have to agree with the statement, "Not your typical beach read." In fact I wouldn't use the words beach read to describe this book at all. This isn't a fluffy mindless entertainment while you soak up the rays at the beach. This is a gritty and raw story of a dysfunctional family.

Hannah Moskowitz is a very talented writer, I enjoy her minimalistic style. And after reading and loving her debut novel Break, I was very excited to read her sophomore novel, Invincible Summer. Unfortunately the story line didn't deliver for me this time.

While there were elements of the story that I did enjoy, again Hannah's writing for one, the unsettling family dynamic, the characterization and Chase's voice as another..... they were overshadowed by things that didn't work for me. Like, the love triangle between Noah, Chase and Melinda and the constant quoting of Camus. I have to admit that anytime I noticed italicized writing I had to skip over those parts.... and Chase's need of Noah. It seemed somewhat unnatural, I understand that they were close siblings, but desperately missing him after he'd been gone for a few hours? Having siblings of my own, I just don't see that. But than again my family was semi-normal. :)

Overall, Invincible Summer is an intense story, featuring compelling characters in a heartbreaking situation. With Moskowitz's signature writing style, it's quite easy to devour the book in one setting.

[Leigh Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Deaf reader reviewing books with deaf characters. This book is listed on my ranked list of books with deaf characters.

I don't think I can fully express how much I hate this book. It's almost a physical repulsion. There are no likable characters, and the least likable of all is the narrator, Chase.

But I'll do my best to focus on the representation of Gideon, the deaf character. I'm going to do my best to break this down, since there's so much to go over, and this representation is a hot, confusing mess. The author/narrator have so much to say about Gideon's being deaf, but there's practically nothing of substance.

The thing that stands out the most to me is how much the family seems to hate Gideon. They keep saying they love him, but here's the thing: Gideon can't win. It seems all he does is "make things get complicated" for the family.

The only thing that is abundantly clear is that Gideon is a metaphor for how bad at communicating this family is. They are constantly weaponizing and using Gideon against each other, going so far as to sending Gideon into the "war zone" of parental arguments to defuse the situation so they can cut the birthday cake and get Gideon to shut up. They all hate Gideon's voice--his "haunting" laugh, and (actual quote): "It so, so freaks me out when he speaks." But also, they all hate when he signs, and try to get to him stop by distracting him or giving him what he wants so they don't have to look at him. Oh, but get this: when he does stop signing, they also hate that!!

As far as communication goes, Claudia typically interprets for Gideon, which Chase considers to be a problematic habit because the family often says things Gideon "doesn't need to hear." If he doesn't need to know it, don't say it. It's literally that simple. At one point, Claudia officially stops interpreting for Gideon because Gideon decided to stop learning new signs, and it's "not cute anymore." This is where we find out that Gideon just had an ASL tutor who apparently taught the family baby signs. Eventually Claudia does start interpreting again and teaching him new signs, though it's not clear where Claudia is learning the signs. He picks them up quickly.

Dad is refusing to send him to a deaf institute, ostensibly because he doesn't want to spend the money, but it's reiterated several times that they just don't want to send Gideon away from the family. If Gideon is immersed in deaf culture, then Gideon is not "theirs" anymore.

But even when Gideon is "theirs," as in a member of their family, the family couldn't give less of a shit about communicating with him. See this quote: "Noah rubs the top of Gideon's head on the way to the cabinet. Noah knows the least sign language of all of us, since he was already twelve when Gideon was born and past that time when your brain's willing to learn a new language. Claude, who was five, picked it up just like she picked up English. Mom is great–the motherly instinct outweighed the closed-brain thing–while Dad's about the same as I am. It's all a matter of how hard ASL was for us, and has nothing to do, sadly, with how much we want to talk to Gideon, in which case Mom and Dad would both be fluent and Noah and I would be fine just to smile."

Specifically, that last sentence. How much does Chase want to talk to Gideon? Not at all. He's good to just smile at the kid.

Look, having siblings myself, I get that. But it's the hypocrisy of that statement compared to Chase's later assertions. You know, after his big ol' "change of heart."

Quote: "Before this year, before reading Camus with him, I never would have thought that there was much about Gideon to understand. I had no idea Noah went through the same change of heart I did. I had no idea he knew the ability to speak with Gideon was worth any real sacrifice. I sort of thought I was the only one who knew that."

So, until Gideon expressed interest in something Chase liked, he didn't think Gideon was an actual person. And Chase, who is one of the poorest signers in the family, thinks he's the only one who thought Gideon was worth talking to? When he has actively tried to suppress Claudia's interpreting, Gideon's signing and speech? Bullshit.

What led to this change of heart? Basically, Mom makes an appointment with a speech therapist for Gideon, but gives the responsibility of taking him to Noah, who is the least responsible member of the family. Perhaps she's sabotaging so Dad will be forced to agree to send Gideon to deaf institute? Anyway, Chase confronts him, and Noah says that Gideon needs neither speech nor new signs. Noah thinks Gideon is happy to not make sense or be able to communicate on a higher level than mime only his family can decipher.

The speech therapist gives them resources to improve Gideon's ASL proficiency, and Chase thinks it "isn't fair" because deaf kids should learn sign language. I do not understand what is happening here. Does he mean deaf people should be born with an innate sign language? What about the resources the therapist is giving them (including ASL tutors, videos, deaf community involvement, etc.) indicates to him that Gideon would not be learning signs? She does mention cochlear implants, but when they don't seem to like that idea she immediately forgets that topic and discusses ASL exclusively. I don't understand why Chase is internally whining about this. Big opinions from a kid who thinks the signs "no comment" and "true" are "uncomfortably close." All this just reinforces that his ASL skills are very low and he wants to keep Gideon at his own level rather than improve himself.

Anyway, Gideon gets to go to the deaf institute once Mom and Dad divorce. Now that Gideon actually has access to language, he matures and is able to sign proficiently, communicating age-appropriate ideas. He still has to use slow and simple signs with his family, which means the gloss--which is usually gibberish to me--is still rendered to broken English.

To follow up on Chase's whole change of heart about Gideon, here's another quote: "For the first time, we're all making real efforts to sign every time we talk, to do our best to translate every bit of the conversation for him. Because he cares now. He's got this air about him now, like he deserves to understand conversations. Like he thinks the things we talk about are important." Yeah gee, it's amazing that actually giving him access to the world makes him interested in more things like literature and conversations.

Chase mentioned before that Noah also had a change of heart. His own change is so profound that he announces his finally declared college major to the family: he's an ASL major, inspired by Gideon. Now their parents are upset because they don't know what job opportunities he will have. As though ASL interpreting jobs aren't one of the most highly paid in-demand jobs? Gideon also hates this idea, insisting that signs are his, not Noah's. That, at least, is understandable. His family purposefully deprives him of full access to language for the first seven years of his life, and then when he finally gets access his family decides he's worth it. Not before, but after. I'd be bitter, too!

Let's take a quick detour and talk about Lucy, the new baby, who is born on Chase's birthday.

When Lucy is born, Chase is the only one "willing" to ask if she is hearing. Barf. Because she's hearing, she's a "magic baby." Any time they discuss Lucy, there's a comment about how nice it is that she can hear, usually with a reference to Gideon being a "fluke." Later, when Lucy gets an ear infection, Chase completely overreacts, fearing that she might become deaf. Like it's the worst thing in the world. As though the priority is to save her hearing, not to just get rid of the infection so she feels better and gets healthy.

Anyway, back to Gideon, and one of the novel's "themes" (for lack of a better term) that bothers me so, so much.

At one point, Gideon turns on a bunch of singing toys at a store, and when people look Chase says, "I'm sorry my deaf brother has no sense of rhythm." The people who had turned to look? "They look away like they suddenly noticed he's disfigured." Later, Shannon (Chase's friend) suggests they get Gideon hearing aids, not because they would help him hear, but because they'd make his disability visible and people would stop staring.

Basically, the author is always mentioning how people are staring at Gideon, but he's only ever doing kid things, like messing with the toys in a toy shop or running and playing on the beach. The author makes it out like Gideon is flying around on Dumbo ears or something with how they're literally always gaping after him. There's no reason? Like if he were shrieking like a banshee in an ice cream shop, yeah I get it, but screaming playfully on the beach? The author is manufacturing stares where in reality there would not be stares. A person here or there will stare at someone signing in public, and some people stare at cute kids as their ovaries explode, but if Gideon is just existing as a six-year-old child, what the hell is up?

The author and/or narrator is projecting. Either they're the person who does stare at every person who seems different and are taking for granted that everyone else does too, or they're afraid of the staring and imagine that everyone is staring at them when in reality they're not. It's ridiculous.

There's only one more talking point I have for Gideon, since I've decided to let quite a few things go--including how when Gideon is asleep in bed, he can tell who's moving around from the vibrations of their footsteps, or how hearing people are obsessed with having deaf characters "read" lips with their fingertips, which also happens here when Chase reads Gideon a bedtime story. No, the last point is about Gideon's balance issues.

The author got one thing right: deaf people typically can't keep their balance. The annoying thing is that Gideon's family is obsessed with, almost pathological about, Gideon's getting dizzy. They are constantly calling attention to it--"Careful! Gideon will get dizzy," or "Go make sure Gideon doesn't get dizzy," and so on. It came up so often that I started thinking, "What, is he going to die if he gets dizzy?!"

Well, he dies. But not necessarily because he got dizzy.

One night (Chase and Lucy's birthday), Gideon begs to go down to the beach and the kids all go. Noah says he'll watch Gideon, but he watches his girlfriend Melinda instead. Gideon disappears, and they frantically search. The story skips suddenly to one year later, but it becomes clear that Gideon is dead, having drowned silently and quickly.

So, the shock factor is that Gideon, the deaf child who is finally getting access to language after deprivation and practical neglect for almost all of his life, dies because his family isn't watching him. So now we deal with the fallout, which is the narrator feeling depressed about the whole thing. Now that his brother is dead, Chase regrets not learning to sign better. He hates the universe for making Gideon deaf, then for taking him away on Chase's birthday, and then for giving him Gideon in the first place.

Look, these are relatable teen angsty feelings, but considering the author decided to make Gideon a metaphor and to make the family absolute audist douchebags towards him, I don't feel bad for the narrator at all. He was the one who was fine to never speak to Gideon (at least until Gideon said he liked Chase's favorite author). Now he's sad because he can't yell at Gideon anymore? Go screw yourself. As for Noah, who wanted to become an ASL major? Nah, he switches his major to Engineering.

Oh, but the siblings "have a habit" of speaking to Lucy in ASL patterns. So now, after fucking up Gideon's communication skills, they have a new mission: fuck up their baby sister's communication skills. She's going to get to kindergarten speaking English words in ASL grammar, and no one's going to be able to communicate with her effectively. Congrats. You're raising a new metaphor to replace the one that died through neglect.

In the acknowledgments, the author notes the D.C. and Providence, R.I. Deaf communities and hopes to have made them proud. It's not clear whether they had any role in the creation, characterization, or plot surrounding Gideon, but I sure hope they didn't.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

~Invincible Summer: not your typical beach read, indeed. With its unfitting cover and delicate insides, this is a book to be taken seriously, and even if I have some very large issues with what lies at its core, do not mistake my ranting for dislike of the novel.~

This so very could have been one of my favourites. Everything I love about books – great main characters, family dynamics, friendships and “relationships” – was incorporated, tied up with the nice bow of stunning lyrical, minimalistic prose. This book had potential to be something magnificent, but because one thing fell, everything else suffered with it. I couldn’t appreciate the main characters because they were flat, the family dynamics because it was all unexplained, and the relationships and friendships because, well, they weren’t actually friendships or relationships. I recommend Invincible Summer to the more serious reading audience, and I’ve even passed it on to many of my friends, but it still isn’t without its flaws.

Readers get to experience four summers in the life of Chase McGill, his family of seven, and his “summer” friends, these summers existing amongst family drama, two brothers “sharing” a girl, and complicated friendships. Hannah Moskowitz crafts Chase’s narrative with believable sentiments and realistic emotions, and if I could pick something I loved the most about this book, it would be the prose that could be beautiful and warm while just as equally cold, bitter and broken, what basically sums up Invincible Summer in its entirety.

What lacks in IS is the depiction of characterization – the illustrating of the characters was inexistent, even though the characters as wholes were fantastic. Chase was the follower and the little brother and the faithful and loyal, and even though he was emotionally traumatic – sometimes to the extremes – I still felt like I was sitting in an empty cardboard box. I was reading from his POV and it felt like I was doing exactly that - reading his experiences and emotions instead of feeling them. Chase felt disjointed from me, another teller who decides to keep from showing, and unfortunately because I didn’t feel connected to him, I wasn’t able to appreciate and comprehend why certain things were such a big deal, and why some of the people and memories he had were so important.

I thought the way Chase was desperate for his brother’s attention and his pleas for Noah to stay was utmost pathetic because I couldn’t understand why he’d want Noah to stay. Noah was an ass, and because I was never allowed to dig deeper, I couldn’t understand the way the McGill family broke down. Melinda, the catalyst for Chase’s change over the four summers, should have been able to elicit some sympathy from me, but she was so constrained in her I-must-catalyze-Chase’s-Change Container that I wasn’t able to reach out to her. The only characters who I had a certain fondness for were Claudia and Gideon, the former a spunky girl who didn’t get enough page time, the latter a boy after my own heart with his adorable phrases and stubborn, determined attitude. I believe that if I had been able to reach out and feel the pain and confusion and the relationships between the three main characters that this book would have been beautiful through and through.

I have a really BIG issue with the fact that people think this book focuses around a love triangle/a romance. Let me make this crystal clear: it doesn’t in any way, shape, or form, reflect the aspect of falling in love. What it actually reflects is that little thing called lust that most teenagers fall in and out of with popular actors and partners and best friends and people who sit across from them in Spanish. DO NOT MISTAKE THIS BOOK AS TWILIGHT: THE CONTEMPS. IT ISN’T.

Honestly, though, Invincible Summer isn’t a love story and it’s not a love triangle either. I don’t know how someone who has read this book could name it as such. IS– at least the way I thought it through – was more about Chase growing up, and the things that moved him in to doing so (before he was ready) (I’m looking at you, Melinda), rather than which brother was better for Melinda, yaddah yaddah, all that crap. MELINDA AND CHASE WERE NEVER IN LOVE – and it was never implied that they were – so how can one look at it and judge it based on what’s so obviously non-existent. OF COURSE the “love triangle” didn’t work for you, guys! IT WASN’T MEANT TO BE COMPREHENDED AS SUCH!

Invincible Summer is about a boy struggling with a world of grown-ups, where everyone he loves has left for him to chase after. How do I know that? Shannon, for example, has a job in the second summer, is holding down a serious relationship, and is looking at colleges. Claudia is making out with strangers at twelve. Gideon is pushing to learn about the world he’ll never be fully apart of. Noah is going to school and trying to be a man and learning what takes to be one. Bella is pursuing her dreams. Everyone has moved towards a future, and because Melinda and Chase are left behind, they turn to each other – each for their own reasons, some more odd and implausible than others – and try to forget that nobody cares about how they move forward, as long as they do. Chase and Melinda fall into lust, not love, and don’t mistake it. The point of this story was to demonstrate how some people get left behind, and this book is not a romance.

The quoting of Camus was unneeded, and hollow. It didn’t give me any appreciation for the old guy, it didn’t open my eyes to things Moskowitz was trying to present with her characters through the quotes, and it didn’t make me all gooey inside, or make me believe that the characters were smart. It was sort of unbelievable – how are people supposed to remember so many long passages and bring them up in the middle of a conversation? What was detailed and represented well was the way the McGill family worked, even if certain aspects of it – the dependency on Noah, the leniency towards Claudia, the toughness on Gideon – was set askew. I loved everything about the family because they were close and yet too far apart to work out. The McGills were so much like my family, and so much like other families I know, that I fell in love with them as a whole faster than I could with the characters by themselves.

Invincible Summer, with its intricate family dynamic and tangled web of relationships, was well written and heartbreaking. While I had my problems, I had my affections towards the book, too, and I'd tell anyone to read it. I can see how this might be a person's favourite book, and I’m hoping that in the future I’ll be able to call one of Moskowitz’s my own because if anything, she has talent.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

SPOILERS AHEAD:

#1: Shit damn! These parents pissed me off! Did you just have 5 kids so they could all watch each other and you two sit on your butt? God, I hate babies raising babies and that is the impression I got from this book.

#2: Poor Chase. This guy can just not win. Between his brother constantly running off, his parents getting divorced, Melinda basically forcing him to have sex with her, his baby brother dying in the ocean and being the string that holds his family together, I don't know how he hasn't snapped!

#3: Melinda. Wtf??? Seriously, I don't care if she had been raped or not, there is no reason she should have slept with Noah and Chase. That's just gross. I really, really did not like her.

#4: Camus. While the quotes were charming at times, they got a little excessive.

#5: Gideon. I really enjoyed his character. Getting an inside view of a family with a deaf child was interesting and heartwarming. Out of all the characters, I really felt for Gideon and Chase.

#6: I just cried like a baby at the end of this. This was so, extremely sad.


"When you're grieving, the times you're happy are so much more tragic than the times that you aren't. Because being happy feels fake and it feels temporary and it feels meaningless. And hating being happy is a shitty way to live. And I don't feel happy now. I don't think I will ever feel happy the way I did before he died, but I never want to feel happy the way I have after he died either. A shadow of real. That's Plato, not Camus. I want Camus. But I want to feel happy like me. Not like Camus. I want to feel like me despite the people who are here and shouldn't be and the one who aren't but I can't figure out why."


This is seriously one of my favorite quotes from a book ever, I can identify whole-heartedly with it.



All in all, I can't give this a higher rating than a 3.5. The writing was beautiful at times. The characters became easy to connect to. But, it took forever to get into this story for me. And, it was so sad... in so many ways.

I would definitely give this one a go if it interests you. It is not a bad book. You will laugh and cry.

[Ashley - Book Labyrinth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say that this book just wasn’t for me. There appear to be a lot of people who did like it, but I found it dry, with very little actually occurring. The synopsis on Goodreads made me think it was mostly about summer love and growing up, but I found the book to have a very different feel from all of that.

I didn’t connect at ALL with any of the characters, which is a huge problem for someone like me who reads for character. Chase just didn’t come alive as a character for me. I didn’t understand him or any of his motivations. To me it felt like I was looking in through a window, observing these people, yet not really having a clue what they were actually saying. It also disturbed me that Claudia was so sexualized at such a young age. Right from the beginning I wondered why Shannon, a 15 year old boy, would be obsessed with an 11 year old girl. At that age four years is a huge difference. It just felt dirty and strange.

The format of the book was also prohibitive to my enjoyment of it. Because the book takes you through four summers, you’re only able to get brief glimpses of time, but never actually the whole story. I wasn’t able to connect to the characters or feel anything about the plot, because it was all very patchy.

Finally, there’s the whole Camus obsession. To be brutally honest, it made me want to smash my head into a wall. Who quotes philosophy like that? It was so strange to read about teenagers quoting Camus verbatim like that. I could understand a quote here and there, but no, it was full, lengthy passages that they somehow knew off the top of their heads. It didn’t feel realistic at all, and it was also pretentious and boring, and after a while I skipped over all the passages.

I definitely recommend that you check out all of the positive reviews of this one. Who knows, maybe this will be a book for you. Perhaps it was just too literary for my taste, but I couldn’t make sense of most of it, and I really didn't enjoy it at all. I'm giving it a two because I could see glimpses of redeeming qualities in a couple of the characters, and because the writing was definitely strong.

[One Book At A Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting a type of beach read no matter what the description says. I was ok with emotional and maybe even a coming of age story. Because let's face it, summer can be that type of season. But, not matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get past some aspects of this novel.

I was ok with the time frame. 4 summer seasons and a lot can happen. But in all reality, it's the last summer that anything really monumental happens. Ok, maybe the very end of the 3rd as well...but it's the defying moment, the straw the breaks the camels back so to speak. The other 3 summers are just one form of dysfunction or another.

I had a hard time liking anybody in the story. It's told from Chase's point of view, but he never feels like a teenager. His older brother Noah, is constantly disappearing. He reasoning is the family is sometimes hard to handle. I completely agree. The parents don't feel like parents. The kids are basically raising themselves. The youngest brother is deaf, but doesn't seem like a functioning deaf child. Claudia, well I was just as much of a loss when it came to her as everybody else was. She's making out with girls and then together with the boy next door. Attention seeking much?

The worst part was the sharing of the girl next door. It's just gave the story an icky feeling. There were times that I wondered if one brother was going to come over to find the other one already there. It was just a little bit much. I also didn't really understand the appeal of Melinda, not enough to warrant the devotion of both brothers.

The best part of the story is from the end of the 3rd summer on. This is what I was expecting from this book. The emotions come full circle and it seems everyone finally grows up.

There are quite a few other readers who really enjoyed this story. But, I found that it just wasn't for me. I haven't read anything else by this author. I'm unsure if I will after this one.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initial Thoughts after Reading:

I don't even know to say about this book... For one, it was amazing and full of raw feelings. It made me angry, sad, and happy among other things. I am not even sure how I exactly feel about it all. However, I do know one thing: Hannah Moskowitz is one heck of an author.

Official Review:

I have been hearing amazing things about Hannah Moskowitz and her books since her first book was released in '09, and while I even have that said book in my TBR pile, I had not read anything by Hannah until Invincible Summer. And boy do I regret that now, as not only is Invincible Summer one of the grittiest, emotionally charged books of the year, if not ever, but it’s also a book that will make any reader feel a bucket full of emotions: anger, love, joy, the list goes on and on.

Invincible Summer tells the story of Chase over the course of four summers spent at the beach with his family. For Chase and his family, the best parts of their years have always been spent at the beach along with the Hathways’ (Melinda, Bella, and Shannon as well as their parents). However, this summer, Chase’s fifteenth, is nothing like the ones before. He is starting to feel things for the girl who has always been his brother’s…the one who has always made him the happiest. Worse of all, everything is changing this summer, lust will be felt, hearts will be shattered, and it will continue on for the next four summer as lives as well as faith are tested time and time again, and Chase as well as his family face the biggest challenge live has yet to through them. Will Chase overcome it? Will everything in Chase’s live change for the better or worse? Will everything in his life ever make sense again? Only more pages and time will tell in this addicting read filled with laughter and tears and hope and despair.

Looking at the sunny cover of this one, any reader would thing this is ultimately a feel-good type of book, as I did. Surprisingly enough, it’s anything but that, and that’s what made it an absolute star in my eyes, because it’s different; it’s unique; it’s one of kind; it's a book that includes the tough parts of live as well as the amazing parts. It tests faith… but I digress.

One of my favorite parts of this novel would have to be the characters, no doubt about it. Hannah creates each one with such grace to the point where they simply jump of the page and come to life with every word said aloud to the ones not said at all. Chase, the narrator, would have to be favorite out of the bunch. He is a boy who has his head on his shoulders; a boy who always wants to do the good thing, the right thing, but that's the problem, life isn’t always that way- he’s starting to find. His inner struggles over loss and love will make any reader root for him as well as well relate to him and his jokes and quotes will make readers laugh as well. Though, my favorite part of his character was his ties to his family. His family (his parents, and his siblings) play such an important role in in not only Noah’s live but the book as well. Better yet, it was hard not to simply adore ever one of them, even with their faults.

Adding to his, the plot of this was always a high point. I really enjoyed the way it was told over four summers, as not only did it make it suspenseful, but also it allowed for just the right amount of the story to be told. More importantly, I loved all the twists and turns to the story. I don't think I ever knew just how everything was going to end until the very end, which made me love this book even more.

Lastly, Hannah Markowitz…she’s one heck of an author. I know that for sure. She just gets the feelings teens feel down pat in her characters, in my opinion. She brings to life their problems, strengths, and weakness with her lyrical writing, and she never shies away from the hard parts of live, making her a very valuable author, in my opinion.

Full of emotions and fantastic and lively characters and events, Invincible Summer is one book you simply must not pass up. It is spectacular, gritty, and a worthwhile contemporary read. I can only hope you will love it as much, if not more, than I did.

But word of warning: you're going to need a few tissues.

Grade: A+

[Hira · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Primary language spoken at home." Noah makes a face. "What does this mean? Our primary language? Gideon's? That's sort of why we're here..."
"Um, it's under family, so I'm guessing ours?"
"Well..." Noah lowers his pen. The paperwork has defeated him. "What's our primary language?"
"English? ASL? Physical affection?"
"Food?" Noah says.
"Food's a good guess."
He picks up the pen. "I'm writing food, comma passive aggressive."
"Good call."

This was my first Hannah Moskowitz book, and it definitely won't be the last :) And don't judge this by the summary or cover. I did and i was blown away by the dysfunctional/heart wrenching family drama.

The book spans 4 summers. Chase 'Everboy' Mcgill lives for the summer. He and his family go to their house by the beach each summer, where our story takes place. There's noah, the big brother, who's always running away, no matter how much chase wants him to stay, there's claudia, the little sister who acts the oldest of them all, there's gideon their young, deaf, lovely brother, and then there's lucy, the newbaby.

I particularly loved their interactions with Gideon. It was eye opening at times, the way it was shown. I can't imagine having a deaf brother/sister, or all the troubles faced with them. Big families I do understand, however. Which was why I found it weird about the dad hating Noah, and the not learning sign language and stuff. And yeah, they regretted it later on, but how can you not 'talk' with your son at all? Don't you feel like scolding him or telling him stories or stuff at times?

There are few books i've read from a male POV, and i guess this one of maybe two in which i can actually relate to the main character (except for the whole Noah-Melinda-Chase thing, i found that pretty disgusting).

Now I'm the oldest of four kids, the youngest still a toddler. I sympathize a lot with Chase, there's so much work parents give to older kids sometimes, though not as much as the parents in the book did, i doubt my parents would leave their kids around that much.

All in all, it was a wonderful read which i'd definitely recommend!

Concerning the ending, i saw it coming, but i still cried. It was just too sad :( Gideon was my favorite character. 3

PS: Someone remind me to write "Food" as my language on any form from now on. Fits perfectly.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I heard the words “beach read,” I tend to think of a light-hearted book that will make me smile without making me think deeply. Moskowitz’s sophomore novel Invincible Summer is a beach read in terms of its oceanside setting, but is also a novel that leaves readers with a lot to think about. This is the story of a family that is trying to say together as they grow older. While I didn’t connect with the plot one hundred percent, I found this to be a beautifully done work which nicely showcases Moskowitz’s talent and creativity.

Not one word of Invincible Summer’s plot is sugar coated. It took me about fifty pages to get into Invincible Summer, because sometimes the writing style felt like unedited thoughts. I got used to it, though, and ultimately found it quite poignant. I will say that I didn’t agree with or feel the full impact of every Camus quote in the story.

While I can imagine that some people grow up in a family with dynamics similar to those of Chase and his family, I did not, so it was challenging for me to connect with that aspect of the story. The end of the story was very emotional for me. I loved Chase’s connection to the beach because I’ve felt that way about places where I spent large chunks of my summer.

Moskowitz’s characters are brilliantly realistic because they have good intentions, but also make mistakes and aren’t the easiest to love. Sometimes Chase frustrated me because he wanted to bring his family together, but would say or do something hurtful to his family. I adored Gideon because he was so loving and full of life. At the end of the day, I really cared about how things worked out for the family Moskowitz created.

For some readers, Invincible Summer will be a novel to which they can relate. Although Moskowitz is an incredibly talented writer, this wasn’t quite the story for me. Fans of honest, gripping contemporary novels will eat up Invincible Summer, and I look forward to reading more of Moskowitz’s work.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book a while ago and it's still stayed with me. There was so much depth to this book in the way the family members related to each other--the unofficial battle lines drawn, the way people are supposed to take care of each other, the prodigal son adored when he's around.

There's so much to love about this book...when you read it, it feels like you're sitting on a beach in Maryland. The beach is as much of a character as any of the people, and it works. Everything about it seemed real, and complicated. I loved the way it was constructed, told only in the summers. It really showed Chase's mindset, how what happens in the summer is completely separate from year-long life.

I don't want to say too much and spoil, but this book was absolutely amazing. I've had it for a few months and already read it twice, and I'll probably read it again soon. INVINCIBLE SUMMER is an awesome addition to the already fantastic genre of contemporary YA fiction.

[Cat Hellisen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my god.

I feel like I've been punched and punched and punched until there's no way for me to even think about breathing,

Disclaimer: I know Hannah in tronspace, and I have read a few paragraphs, lines and snippets of this book. And I thought it sounded good, but then I am a little in awe of Hannah's talent, to put it mildly.

But I was not expecting this.

This book is awful. Awe-ful. Brilliant. Horrible and ugly and fucked-up and delicious and beautiful and painfully honest.

I hate writing reviews, so this is not one, it's just me saying there were so many lines that made me laugh, or tear up, or want to run and quote them online. That I read the last summer crying and I'm still crying.

Fucking genius.

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Short Version:
A great blend of light and hard emotion, with an unflinching realism and raw voice, Invincible Summer does a remarkable job of chronicling the life of one teenage boy across four summers. The transitions between the summers are smooth and clear, and the overall development in not only Chase but all the characters is astounding in scope and handled fantastically. The writing is easy and gives a strong voice to Chase, and the playout of the plot has so many twists and is filled with small intricacies that add up to something heartwrenching and beautiful.

The Extended Version:
Chase is likable from the start, a great brother and son, and easy to get along with. He’s intelligent and funny, starting out on the cusp of really hitting the teenage coming of age issues while still holding a certain softness and innocence. His love for his family is clear, and his yearning for his older brother, Noah, to stick around more says so much about his character early on. With each passing summer, Chase grows and learns, and his character development from start to finish is stark and vivid. The motivations and causes, the reactions and implications, were all handled beautifully and poignantly. Chase’s mindset and emotions changed not only with each new year as expected but also from the events that take place.

Noah is a character that most definitely will get a different reaction from every reader. Some will find reasons to dislike him, while others will be completely unable to no matter how much they might want to. He is seemingly flighty, but perceptive and bold in his actions. The dynamic between Noah and Chase plays a strong role in this book and is handled beautifully, showing both the good and bad of it, and nailing the push and pull. Even through Chase’s eyes, Noah’s character is well rounded, fully dimensional, and shines as something all his own. There is intrigue about him from the start, and the full scope of his actions and desires come to light with each passing summer.

Melinda, too, plays a very clear role in this book and is a multifaceted character. She has a depth that can't be described easily, much of which even Chase doesn’t completely understand, especially early on. She slips in and out of the story at just the right time, and her characterization is raw and gritty. She forces Chase to grow up in some unexpected ways, and forces him to accept and face some things that really drive his own development. Melinda is as memorable character as Chase and Noah, and there is a playout within the relationship of these three that is handled carefully yet poignantly.

The rest of the rather large cast of characters is also well defined, each one standing out in their own way. Chase’s parents very clearly love their children, and though even early on there is some tension between them, both are devoted to their children. Chase’s younger siblings, too, play a large role, from deaf but fantastically well done Gideon to Claudia, who goes through her own coming of age type plotline that shows up at just the right moments. The Hathaways—the family that has the beach house next to Chase’s and who also spend their summers there—have a great dynamic with them and also a great sibling set that plays in and out of Chase’s in a memorable, unique way.

There is a very strong family component to this book that not only builds Chase’s character but also the plot. Moskowitz does a remarkable job blending this element with everything else, and each new summer brings something unexpected and changing. The entire plot is played out only during the summers, with smooth transitions between each. The summarization of the in between eleven months is well scripted, with important parts being slipped in at just the right moment without ever taking away from the momentum and progression of the plot itself.

This book holds an array of issues and situations, some unexpected and some predictable yet their purpose is clear. It is emotional and raw, gutting and gripping, but Moskowitz doesn’t hold anything back. From the sex to the language to the emotions and fights, she includes everything a teenage boy would experience, think and go through. Chase’s narrative is completely spot on, absolutely unique to him while being readable and enjoyable for a range of ages and both male and female readers. There are several very poignant scenes that stand out, leaving a long lasting impression.

Also notable in this book is how smoothly the work of Camus is slipped in, never once pulling the reader out of the overall story. The quotes are completely relevant, and also give a great insight into the characters and their deeper thoughts. Not only is this addition unique, it’s well handled and not there just to try to get attention.

The writing is easy to follow, smooth in flow, and so often, Moskowitz speaks volumes in a few well done sentences. Rich in subtext, but with enough to make it clear what’s between the lines, this is a quick read page wise but astounding and in depth in scope. Not once did I stop to question something, nor did I ever feel like things were rushed unnecessarily. The pacing is steady, mixing powerful and emotional scenes with easier, lighter ones. Filled with banter and humor, Moskowitz breaks the tension at just the right moment and throws in plenty of softer scenes that will give the reader a beak before pushing on to some completely heartbreaking scenes that drive things to the final outcome.

From the well handled, stunning and emotional plot, to the smooth writing, and rounding out with a wide cast of very deeply developed characters and bold dynamics, Invincible Summer is a gorgeous coming of age that holds nothing back. This is a book that will leave a lasting impression and worm its way into the reader’s mind, where the full scope and extent of things gets stronger as time goes by. With unadulterated emotion and realism to tie everything together, and a very sympathetic and intricate protagonist, Moskowitz will reach a range of readers with this one.

[Brenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh holy crap. Like, really. This is a fantastic book. For anyone. To quote the book itself, I love it love it love it.

Cover: I'm going to admit, I played the "Which end is which?" game the first time I saw it. Once my mind was able to put it together, I haven't had any trouble with it. In fact, when I tried to see it the other way, it took a lot of work to see how I got it wrong again. About halfway through I was questioning the choice of gender being that our narrator is a teenage boy, but by the end of the book, I have a way better understanding and like it. The bikini is a good choice, and the ambiguity of the girl works well. And I simply adore the font choice. Love it love it love it.

Plot: The situations Moskowitz comes up with. Wow. The story is told through four different summers at a beach house that this one family goes to every year, next door to another family that does the same next door.
This is a contemporary novel, so it's not like there is necessarily anything the novel is pushing toward (like a character searching for the Holy Grail, or something), but that doesn't take away from the book at all. I sat down one night to read just a bit, but I couldn't stop myself. Everything flows amazingly well, even when we are missing out on the largest parts of these people's lives.
Each summer is its own arch, with a beginning middle and end, but they are all seamlessly connected. Things happen in this novel, characters do things and there are consequences. That's sometimes my biggest problem with contemporary fiction. I definitely didn't have that problem with this book.

Characters: These characters are fantastic. All of them are so well rounded. Chase is a fantastic narrator: watchful, understanding but not necessarily fully, slightly unsure. I loved looking at the world though his eyes. All of Chase's siblings are each their own person. I especially liked Noah, the older brother who has a tendency to run away and can't be contained, and Claudia, the little firecracker who acts beyond her years. My only critique here would be the parents weren't quite as fleshed out as the children, but there were definitely enough moments with both to make them not cookie-cutter or stereotypical.

Writing: I said it before and I'll say it again - this girl can write. Wow. I would quote - I really would - but my copy tells me that I'm not allowed to, so I can't. But know that I really want to. Moskowitz has a very lyrical style, and every word has its place. There aren't any frivolous words in this book. Because of that, however, there is a lot packed into every sentence and it can get a little heavy if you aren't into that. But I am. She describes things in interesting and new ways that are fresh and exciting. For instance, she actually says a mind is purple. I'm not 100 percent sure what that means, but in the moment, it worked so well. Also, the writing style mirrors the mental state of our narrator, like a gorgeous dance. It's really something to marvel at.

(On a side note, her writing really made me realize that I'm going to have to step up my game if I want to be anywhere near as good. But inspiration and a goal are good things.)

Themes: The themes unravel themselves slowly, so I didn't really get the full extent of them until the end. This is a story of innocence, of losing and protecting it. During the last 50 pages or so, there was a knot in my stomach feeling what these characters were going through.
Siblings and families are also a very big theme in this novel. While I have a brother, we aren't close like the siblings are in this book. It was interesting to see how the family interacts with each other, when they get along and when they don't. And also how communication theme works itself into the family dynamic.
I will admit that Camus is a huge presence in this novel, and after a little bit it did start to get a little annoying (but I'm like Claudia and philosophy isn't really my thing). However, by the end of the book, I'd come to an understanding with it, enjoyed it even. And anyone that can make me enjoy philosophy is nearly performing miracles.

Overall: Overall, I loved this book. I devoured it. It's been a while since I've read a book in three days (mind you, I work about 10 hours a day and have other commitments, so I don't get to read that much). But it's been quite a while since a book kept me up all night. I give Invincible Summer FIVE STARS because it was utterly fantastic. Really. I think everyone should go and pre-

[Shaun Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knowing Hannah, I knew that the lazy girl on the cover and the sunny summer blurb on the back were only the surface of what I'd find between the pages of her second book, INVINCIBLE SUMMER. Those are just marketing. They're not what the book is about.

The book isn't about summer, though it takes place over 4 successive summers. It's not about Camus, though quotes from him infest the pages and worm about in your brain even after you've finished the book. It's not even about the girl next door, though she acts as something of a catalyst for the events that make up IS.

This is a book about family. Fucked up families and brilliant families and the families we make in place of the ones we're assigned to at birth. All of the characters in the book are deeply flawed. Fatally flawed, I'd say. When I met these characters, I wondered how they didn't fly apart from one another. Over the course of 4 summers, we see how.

Chase and Noah are the two characters you get to know the most, though not the one about which I most cared. Gideon, their deaf younger brother was the character I most wanted to see develop. The characters in this book talk a lot but say little. Gideon talks little and says the most. He's the most honest. But Chase and Noah are the emotional core of the book. Chase bugged me throughout because he reminded me of myself and of every naive, indecisive, scared adolescent in the world. He clings to summers like they're the only thing that can save him, save him and save his family, and he fails to see that his family doesn't necessarily need saving, and that the beach and the summer and routine aren't the cures he needs or wants them to be. Noah is more of an enigma. To his family but not to us. Not to me. Sometimes being part of a family is more difficult than not being part of one.

This isn't a perfect book. I've yet to read one of those. There are some threads I of which I wanted to see more. The end comes too quickly for me that I'm left still digesting the events of the climax to really let the end sink in. The characters get an entire year, we only get a page. But those minor things don't detract in the least from the power of this book.

I've read some people's reviews seeing Noah's and Chase's relationship as incestuous almost because of how co-dependant they appear. I'm not going to say those are wrong because the boys ARE co-dependant. Deeply so. But when you take the story as a whole, you begin to see why. You want Chase to let Noah run and for Noah to never come back because maybe that would be best for both of them, but you know that the strand that binds them is elastic. Chase will never let go and no matter how far Noah runs, he'll always return. They can't help it.

I've also read of the overuse of Camus. To that I would agree. With a caveat. It's the characters that overuse Camus and not Hannah. When I was in high school, I became obsessed with Ayn Rand. I quoted her and looked for ways that her philosophy could help me make sense of my life. Growing up is hell. It's a fucking battlefield. Teenagers are always looking for ways to make sense of their lives. The ones in this book found it in the writings of Camus. They used it to understand. In that, I think Hannah was dead on in having her characters quote him to the extreme. As screwed up as all these characters were, having someone to whom they could lean on, who said things that brought them comfort, made perfect sense.

I'd recommend this book to everyone.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Intense pretension. Every single line was supposed to have this massive importance. I can't really handle reading something like that unless it's much shorter, as in a poem. It's hard to sustain that level of intensity. I realize that I'm not a teen anymore, and for better or worse, I no longer stay up at night paging through poetry and literature, passionately trying to understand just what is going on around me. I get the feeling that Invincible Summer is a result of our author doing just that.

Readers follow Chase as he spends 4 summers at the family beach house. Brent Runyon's Surface Tension had the exact same setup and I think suffered a similar fate. The authors tried to cover waaaaaaaay too much in too short of a time. Way too many feelings, way too many instances to show a character "growing up". Way too many big ideas.

I don't want to leave out that I think I understand where the author was coming from here. What she was going for. It's clear she cares so deeply about her characters and has put ridiculous amounts of thought into every thing she writes for them. I appreciate that and think teen readers will too. They'll def be able to relate to these character better than I.

Ultimately, the Camus quoting and brother-love led to my unenjoyment of this novel.

Chase had a strange sense of longing, almost lusting for his older brother whose only "downfall" was going off to do his own thing quite frequently. 15 year old Chase doesn't mind "playing house" with his sister. I think in an effort to illustrate how strong Chase felt to his family, the author veered into almost romantical territory. (I know romantical is not really a word, but I like the way it sounds here)

The Camus quotes were pretty cool at first, but as the chapters went on and the characters were nearly having Camus Quote Contests, I started to roll my eyes at every one.

I almost don't even want to post this review cause I don't want to upset anyone who enjoyed the book. And I'm sure many of you have and will. I think this is best reserved for those of us who are gaga for over-analyzing and introspecting.